Posts tagged chemistry
An advanced civilization collects enough Magnesium and Oxygen, from all over the Galaxy, to equal the mass of a star, and then reacts the Magnesium and Oxygen to produce Magnesium Oxide. The civil...
35% O2 (oxygen) 61% Ar (argon) 1.07% CO2 (carbon dioxide) 0.93% As arsenic 2% Other trace elements On an exoplanet with a mass of 0.284 Earths and a surface gravity of .66 gs (6.44 m/s^2), would...
An abandoned outpost from a long extinct race is discovered. It can easily be repaired and would make an ideal location for a colony, however it has been breached and any usable air has been long ...
Lithotrophy is a phenomenon known from microscopic life, where an organism converts inorganic substances, usually minerals, into energy. So, we know that a single-celled life form can do this, but...
I'm researching possible materials that maybe be used in the far future. I came across something called metallic oxygen. If oxygen is compressed to 10GPa, it turns into a dark red solid O8. If this...
Context In one of my stories I am having a villain try to bring back the beauty of the giant arthropods in the Carboniferous period by genetically engineering his own personal, mega-pseudo-arthrop...
I apologise in advance for the graphic nature of this question. I guess it just had to be asked. I am looking for a way to make the feces of my alien vertebrates some color other than brown or gr...
I assume whatever organs are used for the bioluminescence must be inside the baby's abdomen and specialized for bioluminescence and since the glow is gone entirely at 6 months, those organs must di...
I need a mechanism/organism similar to rust and virus, that will both impair the ship's components AND will kill crew, so the only thing left are a few lucky survivors on a crippled ship. Presumab...
I have this alien race of amoeba-like creatures about the size of humans with the ability to morph their shape and move by constantly making and dissolving muscles by manipulating their membrane an...
The ships would be permanently extra planetary and manned by 4-5 crew. All life support water, food, oxygen and propulsion being produced by bacterial cultures (not necessarily the same). With all...
I'm working on a planet containing an atmosphere composed mainly of sulfur dioxide, with, notably, only trace amounts (if any) of oxygen. Is such a planet one that could realistically pop up in ou...
Previous parts here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 2: nervous system Creating a scientifically semi-...
Previous parts here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 2: nervous system Creating a scientifically semi-...
Part 1 here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton This question is about a complete rebuild of the nervous system. The question as proposed here: Improving human re...
** * Xenobiology expedition 'Profundity': Log entry 634 * ** These things are remarkably tricky to study!! Puffer lizards live on the open salt pans of Arbslex IV (an incredibly Earthlike planet)...
Okay so I am making these arthropod looking humanoid mammalian species, so think of a human with armadillo armor and jointed sloth arms. And I have heard that the pancreas produces Chitin so my que...
I'm trying to find a way to explain an alien species' ability to control plants, specifically plant growth for crops, without it being 'magic.' So they can ensure the health and size of the plants ...
Is it possible with some chemicals as intake for humans to completely convert the food/chemical to energy to survive? This is similar to when we are talking about clean energy where water and some...
A weapon is needed for a climactic battle against an otherwise invincible wolf monster. In principle it could be any random thing, like the traditional silver, but we want something based in scienc...
First of all: I don't think that diamond is a good material to use. It isn't even really resistant to pressure. So... it's a stylistic choice and of course I want to know if nature could be this cr...
How genetically different do my human-arthropod hybrid have to be to humans to not be at risk of prion diseases when eating humans? I don't want my monsters to eat a brain for a quick snack and the...
So Chlorine Trifluoride is a very dangerous chemical known to burn through things like concrete and asbestos. It's so bad that the Nazis, THE NAZIS, decided it was too dangerous to use. So I need a...
Background: I'm toying with the idea of an alternate Earth that never developed wireless technologies. Radio transmitters, Wi-Fi, etc... were never invented, meaning that light-speed communication ...
I want to create a convincing world where gunpowder is a rare and expensive commodity, allowing swords and plate armour to still be used effectively despite the world having current level of scient...
AA (azidoazide azide) is a hyper-explosive 14 nitrogen molecule. My questions are: what are some theoretical ways to store it so it doesn't explode on you but on the enemy you throw it at, and what...
Say there would be plants that release a lot of N2O (nitrous oxide or laughing gas). On Earth, N2O is a trace-gas and it is pretty stable. In our atmosphere it has a half-life of > 100 years, an...
This is another question for a setting I mentioned in previous questions (currency, ammo). The setting is: It's happening in post-apocalyptic SE Europe (Balkans specifically), about 60-80 years fr...
There are many interesting places, many interesting worlds. This world is not one of them. It has an argon atmosphere, and the planet itself is made of a very unreactive, insoluble, extremely diffi...
I'm writing a scene set on a construction site where the builders notice that the cement they pour is not setting: it just remains in its liquid state or it is taking a very long time to set. This ...
So I would like a coloured sky in my world, but I want it to be plausible. I'm not so good at science and the like but I've been doing a lot of research. If crystal-like asteroids filled with col...
Is it conceivable that colonists/astronauts on a long term mission in a low gravity environment might use a low dose of an anabolic steroid (such as Equipoise) to prevent extreme atrophy in their m...
I am making a science fiction computer game where you can travel between planets. I would like the planets all to have some kind of differing materials. Now I have no idea about which kind of "mate...
Everyone knows that water is necessary for life because it is such a good solvent, but could a lifeform use water vapor as a solvent instead of water, or any other gas that works a solvent instead ...
What would Germanium based life look like and what conditions would favor it. I know that it's not that common but I am going to handwave that. What would be the resulting look for such a lifeform...
This question assumes that there is complex, intelligent life on some other world other than the kind found on Earth. Carl Sagan allowed that silicon and germanium might replace carbon, and ammon...
QUESTION I was thinking about ways of justifying practical balloon flight for a pre-industrial civilization, when I remembered that some microorganisms produce methane, and better yet, hydrogen. ...
The planet in question is this one. Approximately three quarters the size and half the gravity of Earth, an atmosphere 25% as dense as the Terran one which mainly consists of Nitrogen with small pe...
We're all aware of modern-day fertility treatments, like artificial insemination and hormones, but are there less advanced ways to trigger ovulation and/or otherwise boost fertility? What methods m...
What biochemical reactions might be employed by plants to harvest heat energy when light energy is scarce or even missing? What is the temperature range over which this biochemical reaction can wor...
Creature in question: appears humanoid, but secretes some sort of substance which befuddles humans around them. 'Befuddlement' is an inability to think properly, but not to a great enough degree th...
Linked: What would animal life on a methane world look like and how would it evolve? What would the conditions on a methane world be like? How would an intelligent race on a methane world achiev...
Global famines have dropped the population to 1 billion people and global civilization has collapsed. In an effort to save future civilization some time, you want to provide some information to ki...
Out in the desert wastes of my planet, there are living multiple tribes of psychotic raiders who have acquired a number of harmful mutations due to naturally high radiation in the areas that they l...
Around the American Civil War period, TNT and nitroglycerin were discovered. This made me wonder... what if a more effective recipe for TNT was developed, and efforts were made to manufacture it? ...
Is there a real life chemical or compound that exhibits the characteristics of stereotypical movie acid? From what I know of most acid, it is usually clear or just a little cloudy, but I'm looking...
I was wondering if plants could absorb fine ice dust mixed into the soil. That is, without a thick layer of snow on the ground, but with traces of ice in the soil. As an extension of this, I wonde...
When looking at mammals and their heart rates one can find a correlation between the lifespan of a mammal and their heart rate. Namely most mammals seem to get about 1 billion (the American one) of...
Outline A planet which is heated tidally by its Brown Dwarf parent and permanently dark needs to have native alien life which has [somewhat similar biochemistry to Earth] and also be [permanently ...
Remember the Xenomorphs from aliens, how they didn't show up in heat vision? I was wondering how you could recreate that effect biologically... a creature which doesn't pop-up on IR (at least, not ...
